Original DDE™ surrealistic art: “Monovision” by: rob kistner © 3/19/24
U nfurling linearity
accumulating into the future
tethered to a uniform past
paralyzed in the now
over and over
repeating in my head
these same odd words
this same strange vision
a visual drone
over and over
unfurling linearity
accumulating into the future
tethered to a uniform past
paralyzed in the now
always the same fevered dream
this inflexible fear
I am fallen paralyzed
unable to lift my head
then I see coming
ever coming
falling slowly
out of the mist
drifting down
always coming
menacingly
unsmiling
faces
coming down
I want to rise up
run at them
scream at them
shake them
but I cannot
I cannot
then a low drone
a haunting chorus of voices
I’m going
going mad I think
then I scream out
in my smothering nightmare
“I’m going mad
absolutely mad!”
suddenly
in voiced unison
“yes Asimo
you are going mad”
“Asimo” I shout back
“my name is not Asimo”
then comes again
the unified voice
a disembodied voice
“oh, but we are all Asimo now”
“no” I cry out
“please go away
leave me alone
what do you want!”
“want?
why — you Asimo…
we want you”
“I think you’re all crazy”
in my dream
my head’s tilted back
angrily shouting
“no no Asimo, you are — thinking?
there’s no thinking —
just being comfortably tethered…
tethered to our uniform past
safe in our rigid now
unfurling into our linear future”
I am shuddering as I awaken
sweating
terrified
then, suddenly startled
I hear it
yes
in the distance
an unmistakable
low droning
unintelligible unified voices
*
rob kistner © 2024
Poetry at: dVerse
Wow!!!
Nightmare have a mind and direction of their own.
Much?love
Yes they do Gillena, and sadly, sometimes they continue into our waking hours. 😐
What a ride you take us on with this one, melding time with
“unfurling linearity
accumulating into the future
tethered to a uniform past
paralyzed in the now”
And the waking into the same “dream”. Life does seem incredibly linear at times, at other times not.
Glad it carried you along Melissa. Life continues to be like a box of chocolates. 🙂
What a terrifying vision and dream. That kind of future will scare me.
Our human species seems kto want to head in that direction. Maybe some day we’ll learn. 😐
A nightmare well rendered.
Thank you Kerfe, very much. 🙂
A very surreal poem, Rob. Well done. I love Pete Seeger’s song! I sing it every time I go down the road and see all those rows of houses in new developments that look all the same!
“… all made out of ticky tacky and the all look just the same!”
Thank you Dwight. Great song, yes. So very powerful in its simplicity.
“unfurling linearity
accumulating into the future
tethered to a uniform past
paralyzed in the now”
I love this effect – I think this resonates with I tried to write as well.
Glad this resonated for you Abhra… 🙂
I read your wonderful piece Abhra, but did not want to join to comment, so I comment here… wonderful!
A scary glimpse into a possible future – let’s hope it doesn’t happen, Rob. The repetition of the opening stanza works so well, and I like the way you separated these lines to make them threatening:
‘falling slowly
out of the mist
drifting down
always coming
menacingly
unsmiling
faces’.
I was also chilled by the ‘low drone / a haunting chorus of voices’.
Yes, let’s definitely hope that it doesn’t Kim. Sadly, there are an awful lot of high profile people in this world, especially among the politicians and governmental leaders, who would be quite fine with such a nightmare, if it insured them unlimited power. I appreciate that you appreciate my unusual writing style and form, my friend. I approach it as though I were speaking to the reader, conversationally, using the breaks and spaces to accentuate dialogue, and thought dialogue — storytelling.
We are the Borg… (that is the nightmare I am thinking of)— so very vivid.
Jean Luc Picard was once part of the Borg, and it haunted him till his death. OK, here’s another chilling one — “We are the Björn”… 😉
Certainly a very real depiction of a recurring nightmare, Rob.
Sinister in its repetition. Great take on the painting.
Thank you Shirley, you’re very kind… 🙂
Reading this I thought of The Matrix. The question of what is real is always a very real and often scary. Asimo, this got scary!
I am pleased Sean, scary makes you really think — when it’s subtle… because it creeps up on you, and imbeds in your subconscious mind. Asimo is the name of a $2,500,000.00 full humanoid robot, that Honda built in Japan in the year 2000. It took 14 years to develop, beginning in 1986. That original wholistic project was never continued, but it did spawn robotic devices to follow. Asimo now lives in the Miraikan museum in Tokyo.
Surreal and nightmarish at the same time. So well done, Rob.
Thank you Punam… 🙂